Chapter 71: A Cheerful Heart

[Translator – Aren]

Go Ryeoha was a much friendlier wizard than we had expected.

She pulled her mask back up, smiled with her eyes, and beckoned with her right hand.

"You must’ve had a really hard time forcing your way across Olympic Bridge without the fog, right? Don’t worry about the way ahead. I’ve cleared out plenty of it, so you’ll be fine.”

"You’re a spirited young lady with a good head on her shoulders. Do you attend church, by any chance?”

"Ahaha. Church and I don’t really get along.”

Seeing her laugh off the pastor’s attempt at proselytizing, I wondered if she might rank among the top 1% of Seoul wizards in terms of personality.

As though that weren’t enough, Go Ryeoha brushed the bloodstains from her clothes with her gloves and even made an offer in a confident voice.

"I’ll guide you. Only use your guns when things get genuinely dangerous. Otherwise, they’ll come swarming.”

With that, Go Ryeoha spun around and began striding forward boldly.

I, Baek Jemin, decided that, as a man, I would be completely honest with myself without the slightest shred of deceit.

She’s fucking amazing. Goddamn.

Watching her from behind as she walked through the bleak, gloomy fog, her ponytail swaying with stray locks of hair sticking out all over the place, made the corners of my mouth twitch upward on their own.

After going 7 whole days without encountering anything this refreshing, my cheekbones were practically rising by themselves.

That said, it wasn’t as though I was only staring because Go Ryeoha was pretty.

Still grinning, I glanced sideways at Shin Nain before raising my right hand to make an OK sign.

It was signaling to establish a telepathic connection using Ears-branch, Stage 1 [Mind Reading].

As befitting a perceptive Ears-branch wizard, Shin Nain immediately understood my intentions.

'I’m listening, Jemin-ssi.'

What stage is Go Ryeoha at?

'I can’t hear her. If she has learned Alteration-type magic, she must be at least Stage 4 in one branch. Judging by how she caught the Amalgam with those strange gloves earlier, she may possess some other defensive art as well.’

Stage 4. For a wizard who practiced Alteration-type magic, those were weighty words.

Eyes, Ears, Heart, Hand, and Tongue.

Even the Ears-branch, which seemed like the most useless of the lot, boasted overwhelming effectiveness when it came to mind reading and identifying monsters.

If the Heart-branch, which offered the greatest efficiency, or the Eyes-branch, which had the greatest impact, reached Stage 4, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of effect it would produce.

Of course, I was still a man possessed by his instincts.

Even while we were having this telepathic conversation, I freely admit that my eyes remained glued to the shapely legs outlined by Go Ryeoha’s tracksuit pants.

But lust as a man wasn’t the only desire I possessed.

Barely managing to squeeze my eyes shut through the seething curiosity of Baek Jemin, the man who dreamed of becoming a great Archmage, I asked another question.

Shin Nain. Do you think she’s an Ears-branch wizard?

'...Hard to say.'

After a moment’s consideration, I made my decision even as I awkwardly lowered my stance because of my lust-ridden body.

It was a tear-jerking victory in which the reason of Baek Jemin the human triumphed over the lust of Baek Jemin the beast.

Shitmaster. Even if you scan her, keep it between us and don’t react.

'Wouldn’t that damage the trust we have with Go Ryeoha-ssi?’

No matter how friendly she was, she was still a Seoul wizard. And judging by the fact that she knows how she had a spell phone, she has probably been in contact with the 66-Society.

If she’s an Ears-branch wizard at a higher stage than us, every scrap of information we have will leak straight out, so there’d be no point in meeting her and talking in the first place.

We’d reveal only the information she wanted and be left as empty husks. If she turned hostile after that, it would be difficult for us to put up any meaningful resistance.

We also couldn’t overlook the fact that Hamza’s Dogma-type magic was far too abstract.

We needed to determine whether she was an Ears-branch wizard at a higher stage than us, whether one of her other branches was more advanced, or whether she was blocking Ears-branch magic through some other strange technique. If we could figure that out, provoking a battle would be our best option.

'I’ll send the signal to the heretical heathen.'

With that, Shin Nain lightly tapped Hamza’s chest with his fist.

-Thump, thump!

"Gah!"

Hamza, having suddenly been punched for no apparent reason, trembled as he glared at Shin Nain. But Shin Nain took that opportunity to whisper something to him.

Hamza reluctantly nodded.

The other Supreme Archmages looked back at Shin Nain and Hamza as though wondering what the hell they were doing.

"Nain. What are you doing?”

"Evangelizing.”

"Oh! Now that I think about it, there is a saying about preaching scripture to a cow¹. It must mean even a cow will believe in the Lord if it hears the gospel.”

"Jemin-ssi, does it really mean that?”

Lee Sejun asked me uncertainly, so I gave him an honest answer.

"I don’t know. I’m sure the pastor’s right.”

While Shin Nain, Hamza, and I were conspiring. Go Ryeoha, who had been walking several steps ahead, suddenly spun around to look at us.

Blinking above her mask, Go Ryeoha raised a hand and waved it around.

"Is something wrong?”

"No. We just had something to discuss between us guys.”

"Hmm."

She looked suspicious.

But she didn’t have enough evidence or even a strong enough hunch to call us out on it. That was exactly the kind of expression she wore.

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at us, then turned her attention back to leading the way.

We Supreme Archmages obediently trotted along behind Go Ryeoha.

When I subtly rolled my eyes and glanced back, I saw Shin Nain discreetly turn his weapon’s selector to safe.

Hamza’s eyes darted nervously from side to side.

The pastor, completely unaware of what was happening, still held his rifle up as he kept watch in every direction. Lee Sejun followed along with heavy steps, his brow furrowed as though something displeased him.

Among us Supreme Archmages, Shin Nain, Hamza, and I were the ones with detection abilities, and all three of us were deliberately slacking off.

All that was left to do was watch Go Ryeoha’s actions.

After we continued walking for several minutes, Shin Nain’s telepathy reached me.

'Faces. Two.'

The fog had grown thicker at just the right time. Visibility was down to roughly 50 meters.

Go Ryeoha, who had been confidently leading the way, also stopped moving. I wondered whether she had detected them with Ears-branch magic, but I still couldn’t be certain.

A Seoul wizard could at least know that monsters swarmed wherever the fog was thick.

I narrowed my eyes and studied Go Ryeoha through the lenses of my gas mask.

She had come to a dead stop and turned back toward us. As though telling us not to worry, she gave us a gentle little wave and smiled with her eyes like an older sister looking after her young nephew.

"Wait here."

A shape emerged beyond the pale fog.

They were two Amalgams that had each devoured more than a dozen people.

The way they ran with their arms hanging limply made it obvious that the fog had weakened them.

However, among their dozen or so pairs of arms, two pairs had fingers wiggling in rippling motions.

Were they enduring the numbness in their arms like that?

I found myself more interested in the mechanism behind how the fog weakened Amalgams.

And before long, I realized that paying more attention to the Amalgams than Go Ryeoha had been the better decision.

-Grab!

Unlike its other arms, which hung limply, one of the Amalgam’s desperately twitching hands twisted grotesquely.

As though someone had clamped down on it with all their strength.

The Amalgam’s hand crumpled like a pig’s hoof, and with a sickening crunch, a handprint appeared across it.

That was when a scream burst from the single mouth torn beneath its jumble of faces.

-Aaaaagh...

Regardless, the Amalgam’s hand was ripped straight off.

When my grandmother was alive, she had been incredibly good at wringing chickens’ necks, but the Amalgam’s wrist was butchered with far greater professionalism.

-Crack!

Something invisible yanked one of the Amalgam’s hands off in a single motion.

It had been pulled out so neatly that the severed tendons hung from it in long strands. The cleanly extracted bundles of nerves and blood vessels almost looked like someone had slipped the meat straight out of a crab shell.

-Splat!

The hand was flung aside.

The moment the pastor saw it and hurriedly placed his finger on the trigger, Shin Nain silently grabbed his hand.

They seemed to exchange a wordless conversation.

The pastor slowly lowered his muzzle and backed away, putting distance between himself and Go Ryeoha.

Then, in the instant her tied-back hair swayed and lightly brushed against her short padded jacket…

My eyes lost sight of Go Ryeoha.

My ears caught her instead.

-Baaaaang!!!

With a wet burst, the back of the Amalgam’s head exploded.

A single punch swept away its head, spilling the revolting pus contained inside.

The headless Amalgam split apart and flew backward like a cabbage torn from its roots.

The corpses that had been forcibly fused together by their merged heads finally separated once those heads were gone.

The other one was already crawling across the ground after having every one of its legs ripped off.

Like someone snapping the legs from an ant one by one, the Amalgam had lost all dozen or so pairs of legs. It writhed as overlapping cries poured from its single mouth.

-Waah, go away, get off me, I can’t kill you…

That didn’t change the fact that it was a monster. Even while saying those things, it stretched its melted face forward like an amoeba and stubbornly continued crawling toward us.

Go Ryeoha stared down at the legless Amalgam before turning her gloves this way and that to inspect them.

The Amalgam squirmed as it crawled toward her, while Go Ryeoha examined the old, frayed gloves standing directly in front of it.

Clench.

Go Ryeoha curled her hand into a fist.

"What a waste."

With those words, she strode forward, raised her foot above the Amalgam’s head, and brought it down with all her strength.

-Crunch!

And just like that, the two Amalgams died.

Only then did Go Ryeoha turn back toward us and smile with her eyes.

"Ahjussi, I’ll let it slide just this once.”

-Smack, smack, smack…

My lips had gone slightly dry.

As someone who had been caught lying more times than I could count, I recognized it immediately. That subtle reaction made it obvious.

She had realized we had deliberately neglected our detection duties.

Now that our intentions had been exposed, there was only one thing to do. Making excuses to the bitter end and playing dumb didn't suit my personality. If a man got caught lying, wasn’t the truly manly thing to do to proudly take his beating?

Of course, I also prepared to crush my tongue between my teeth in case she genuinely tried to beat me.

If things went south, I would use Eyes-branch, Stage 2 to stop her and then kill her.

It was painfully obvious that one hit from that fist would spill my brains and kill me instantly, so I steeled myself before asking.

"Go Ryeoha-ssi, did you learn Ears-branch magic?”

"What?...Aha.”

Go Ryeoha blinked, then burst into laughter behind her mask.

She laughed for quite a while, shaking the blood from her right hand, before looking at us with amusement filling her eyes.

"Maybe it’s because you’re outsiders and still so innocent, but you make it painfully obvious. Even someone who isn’t an Ears-branch wizard would notice, you know?”

"We made it that obvious?”

"Of course. When people betray you around here, they don’t spend that long setting it up."

At that moment, I felt a faint pressure against my neck.

-Thump.

My pulse struck against an invisible touch.

My springy artery, the soft flesh surrounding it, and something alien beyond my combat uniform and poncho were being gently pressed down.

-Press, press.

While looking at me, Go Ryeoha formed a V with the right hand she had been shaking off, then bent her fingers like a pair of pincers and giggled.

The distance between Go Ryeoha and me was unmistakable. Even at the shortest estimate, she was more than 15 paces away.

Normally, I should have assumed that the gesture had nothing to do with me.

But every time Go Ryeoha bent her index and middle fingers, the pressure against the back of my neck grew stronger.

-Preeeess...

She seemed to be enjoying the springy, soft sensation, kneading it as though she were pressing a cat’s paw pads.

The problem was that what she was pressing wasn’t a cat’s paw but an artery hidden inside my neck.

I raised a hand to swat away the invisible pressure, but Go Ryeoha smiled with her eyes and bent her index and middle fingers once more.

-Squeeeze!

A jolt ran through me like the one I used to feel when I drank too much caffeine and my shoulders locked up.

Shin Nain. As horrible as it was, I desperately needed to speak with Shin Nain right now.

'Jemin-ssi'

What does Hamza say?

'He says it isn’t dangerous yet.'

Is that fucking angel even doing its job properly?

Just as I was cursing a storm in my head, the pressure crushing the back of my neck suddenly vanished.

"So, are you going to follow me? Or are we parting ways here?”

"What happens if we part ways?”

"Squish, squish~."

Go Ryeoha casually rested her hand on her hip, raised her right hand, and once again bent her fingers like pincers.

The result was the pressure returning to the back of my neck.

The difference was that this time, they weren’t fingers checking my pulse.

I instinctively knew that the grip she had used to twist off the Amalgam’s hand moments ago was now resting gently against the back of my neck.

-Preeeesss...

That was when Go Ryeoha pulled out her spell phone with her left hand.

Still wearing her mask, she waved the spell phone around excitedly and giggled, smiling with her eyes.

"If you soldier-ahjussi aren’t going to talk to me, then I don’t really have any reason to keep you alive, either. The 66-Society.  You still don’t know?”

"Hey, Hamza! You said this wasn’t dangerous!”

Unable to endure it any longer, I shouted, and Hamza gave a shriveled reply.

"I-It still isn’t dangerous…Um…And…”

"And what?!”

"To be honest, we were the ones who picked the fight first…”

"Hah~!”

Does this bastard Hamza know nothing about having your people’s backs?

He could’ve just sided with me a little, but instead he had to start weighing who was right and wrong.

She’s a Stage 4.

Admiring the view is one thing, but I still had to size her up! We could obtain her remains!

It’d be good if I leveled up!

Help me out here!!!

Yet even in this situation, these Aphorism bastards seemed trapped by the mundane morals and ethics of ordinary society as they stared at me like I was garbage.

Especially the pastor.

"Jemin. Let’s go. You need to be taught a lesson.”

* * *

A little while later.

Aphorism and Go Ryeoha reached a dramatic compromise.

Namely, they agreed to use me, Supreme Archmage Baek Jemin, as a hostage.

As a result of their damn compromise, an invisible hand rested against the back of my neck, kneading it over and over.

The problem was that this hand wasn’t merely rough. It came with the pain of having every blood vessel forced open like I was receiving some kind of meridian massage.

I had no choice but to cry out as I hurried after Go Ryeoha in quick little steps.

"Aagh, agh…”

"Soldier-ahjussi, you're much softer than I expected. Your blood vessels are nice and springy, too. Squish, squish.”

Go Ryeoha truly was a Seoul wizard after all.

What kind of lunatic fondled someone’s blood vessels because they enjoyed the feeling of pressing them?

Meanwhile, those Shitphorism bastards who had sold out this Supreme Archmage, Baek Jemin, were watching the scene with warm, satisfied expressions.

"Baek Jemin, you brought this beating on yourself. What do you expect us to do?”

"Jemin-ssi. To be honest, that was horrifically ugly of you. You allowed a devil’s whisper to tempt you into coveting the remains of a perfectly decent crusader. You’ll be praying with me for a while.”

"Treat good people with kindness. I think that’s how you should act wherever you go.”

Lee Sejun was the only one taking my side.

Bringing up the rear, Lee Sejun walked with his arms crossed while pouring out a stream of reasonable, valid arguments.

"Everyone is blaming Jemin-ssi, but I think we should be giving him credit for his vigilance instead. Especially that woman, Go Ryeoha. Of all the wizards here, she specifically targeted Jemin-ssi, an Eyes-branch wizard. She instantly identified the most dangerous wizard, the one who could immobilize her if something happened, and took him hostage. She’s not someone we can afford to underestimate.”

"Huh? Since when could you say things this smart, Sejun?”

"It’s not about being smart. I'm being cautious. Just look at her even now. From that unfamiliar technique that fired those tiny flames to the precision with which she casually subdued Jemin-ssi and easily defeated those monsters. Judging by combat ability alone, she might be difficult to handle even if all of us attacked together. Entrusting Jemin-ssi’s safety to someone like that puts us at an enormous disadvantage.”

Every word he said was correct.

So much so that even Shin Nain, who had been scolding me moments ago, flinched for an instant. Had the penalty of Ears-branch, Stage 1 not been active right then, even I would have seen Lee Sejun in a new light.

'As if being strong and wielding unusual magic weren't enough, she’s beautiful too. I can’t even imagine how easily she must’ve coasted through life.'

The newfound respect in Shin Nain’s eyes vanished instantly, replaced by a venomous glare.

The back of my head began throbbing because of Lee Sejun rather than the invisible grip. It throbbed so badly that I eventually couldn’t stop myself from asking.

"Sejun-ssi. Come to think of it, why exactly is becoming a beautiful TS girl your dream?"

There were countless ways to coast through life.

You could regress and invest in Bitcoin, read the future and win at gambling, or at the very least become a devastatingly handsome man and take the entertainment industry by storm. So why, of all things, did he specifically want to become a pretty TS girl?

No one said anything, but I could practically feel everyone pricking up their ears in curiosity.

Even Go Ryeoha stopped walking, turned toward us, and blinked.

"What’s TS?”

"Ah..."

So that’s the part you’re curious about.

I didn’t have the courage to explain what TS meant, so I mumbled something evasive.

The others in Aphorism seemed to feel the same way. They fell silent and began looking elsewhere. Only Lee Sejun spoke, his eyes turning bitter as he sank into his memories.

Though rather than a fond memory, what he brought up was closer to a cold, heavy regret.

"Children who are placed in orphanages learn before anything else that love isn’t given unconditionally. Sponsers like looking at pretty, cute children too.”

With those words, Lee Sejun, the man, uncrossed his arms.

"That’s all."

The venom in Shin Nain’s gaze softened slightly.

He actually slowed down until he was walking beside Lee Sejun, then patted him on the arm.

"I failed to hear the deepest part of your heart, Sejun-ssi. I’m ashamed of myself.”

"Nain-ssi. Do you finally understand?”

"Of course. That unconditional love you long for, Sejun-ssi…Jesus gives it freely and without reservation. Walk with us.”

"Haah…Nain-ssi! You have to attend church to follow Jesus!”

"Nain, comfort Sejun properly. Now that I see it, those strange thoughts must’ve crept in because there was an emptiness in his heart.”

"Yes, Pastor.”

"Sejun-ssi, Allah also promises a paradise with 72 virgins.”

"No! I’m saying I want to become one!”

While Aphorism strengthened their unity however they pleased, my eyes met Go Ryeoha’s as she blinked at us.

Her eyes sparkled, looking thoroughly delighted.

"You soldier-ahjussi sure are lively. Usually, when people come to Seoul, they’re too busy bawling their eyes out and begging to be saved.”

"Ah…Yes…Well…I suppose we are.”

Unsure what else to say, I nodded for the time being. Go Ryeoha curved her eyes into a gentle smile.

"Everyone’s going to be so happy when they see you soldier-ahjussi. It means the people outside haven’t forgotten about those of us in here!”

"There must be a lot of survivors.”

"Yes! Though everyone’s barely hanging on.”

"What about the 66-Society?”

"Aha. I’m not especially close with them. Was it about 2 months ago? Since then, they’ve ignored us even when we requested supplies. They do help survivors, but if you don’t follow them, they just abandon you. So I decided there was no reason for me to follow their policies either.”

"That’s a relief…”

I looked around with a conflicted expression, and sure enough, the mangled corpses of monsters came into view.

Burned, torn apart, blown to pieces. Seeing corpses killed in every imaginable way made it clear that Go Ryeoha was one of the strongest people in Seoul. She must have answered the radio transmission because she was confident in her abilities.

With Go Ryeoha guiding us, we pushed through the fog.

Normally, monsters would have rushed us at every opportunity. Walking past and over corpses killed by another wizard felt unbelievably strange.

"Is Konkuk University campus safe?”

"Yes! I clean it out regularly. Survivors might come here, after all.”

The 6 of us chatted away as we walked through the dense fog, yet for some reason, a chill crept down my spine.

Why couldn’t I relax even with such a powerful ally accompanying us? Was it because she still had the back of my neck in her grasp? Feeling a strange sense of unease, I continued on with the journey.

Thanks to Go Ryeoha’s assistance, we safely reached Konkuk University campus.

Since it was my first time there, I wanted to look around, but the fog was so thick that I could barely see anything besides rotting weeds. The inside of the campus was just as desolate, but after walking for a while, a large lake came into view.

Go Ryeoha spoke with cheerful pride.

"The water here is clean, so it’s safe. There are still water purifiers over by the student union building too. Everyone is staying in the basement of the student union!”

-Press, press!

Following the invisible hand pressing against the back of my neck, I trudged after Go Ryeoha like a cat dangling by its scruff.

After walking for quite a while, a building called the student union came into view. Befitting a place a high school graduate bastard like me would never have set foot in for the rest of his life, it was a huge building several stories tall despite supposedly being for students.

So this was a university?

While I looked around at this unfamiliar world, Go Ryeoha brightly waved toward the heavily bundled people crouching in the shadows beyond the barricade.

"Everyone! I’m back!”

The way she smiled with her eyes and answered so energetically made her look exactly like a cheerful college girl.

Of course, not everyone was as spirited and energetic as Go Ryeoha. Honestly, being gloomy was probably he more normal reaction. The heavily dressed guards remained hidden in the shadows, staring straight ahead without moving a muscle as they maintained an intense state of alert.

Wondering whether they were wary of us, I unconsciously activated Ears-branch, Stage 1.

-Silence.

Had they felt hostility toward me, I would have heard the gentle trickling of a stream. Since I heard nothing, it seemed they weren’t hostile toward us.

It was a relief that not everyone in Seoul hated outsiders.

Perhaps the misunderstanding about us heavily armed civilians had finally been cleared up.

Just as I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, Go Ryeoha urged us onward.

"Everyone should be waiting on Basement Level 1. Follow me!”

"Goodness. A young lady protecting people even in a situation this difficult. It would be wonderful if you came to church.”

"Hmph. You have no eye for people either, Pastor. It really is all about looks with you.”

"Sejun. I told you to come to church too, didn’t I?”

"How about a mosque?”

"I said I don’t want either!”

While the pastor clicked his tongue in admiration, Aphorism and the Supreme Archmage Baek Jemin strode after Go Ryeoha.

Then Shin Nain tapped me on the shoulder from behind. When I turned around, the look in his eyes through the lenses of his gas mask was anything but ordinary.

Without saying a word. Shin Nain made some ridiculous gesture with his finger, then gently rubbed his headset.

At first, I wondered what the hell he was doing, but something about the atmosphere felt strange.

A sudden sense of foreboding came over me, and I focused.

Every time I used telepathy with this bastard, it felt as though my insides were twisting themselves into knots. But if I didn’t, there was far too high a chance that my insides would end up escaping my body altogether.

'Jemin-ssi.'

What is it?

-Tap, tap.

Shin Nain tapped his headset several more times with his index finger.

At a glance, the gesture looked natural enough to pass for him checking whether the sound was working properly, but Shin Nain’s gaze had slid past the loudly chattering members of Aphorism and toward the guards standing watch like an iron wall in the shadows near the entrance.

'I can’t hear anyone’s voice.’  

_________________________________________________________________________

¹Usually means something like “talking to a brickwall”